S-571 A Halo Fanfic
by Cortana99
Summary: Jocelyn-571 is a Spartan that has been kept a secret for as long as she can remember, which is why she only wears her armor when necessary. After stumbling across a camp of civilians, she decides to take them to her base while she also struggles to protect what is left of her home planet. But Jocelyn will soon discover that she must also protect something crucial to win this war.


Chapter 1: The Colony

The sun began to peek over the hills, spreading bright pink and yellow colors all over the sky. It was early in the morning and it was already hot and humid. Fluffy, white clouds gently floated across the bluing sky, darkening and brightening the sun as they passed in front of it.

Jocelyn ran across the fields of tall grass, assault rifle in hand, as she headed towards the dense forest ahead. Her team had been mercilessly killed by a group of Covenant soldiers, and only she had managed to escape. She had been sprinting for miles in the heat of the night and day, causing beads of sweat to slowly crawl down her forehead.

For her, stopping was not an option. She neither looked back nor thought of pausing for so much as a sip of water. Nothing was more important than getting as far away from that town as possible. It was crawling with aliens who had killed every civilian and marine there in the span of sixty minutes. Without her armor, she barely stood a chance against all of them.

The forest she was heading to would provide more than enough coverage for her, not to mention food, shelter, and maybe water. But even when she cleared the distance, she kept on moving.

Her clothes became soaked with sweat, and her mouth grew dry with the lack of water. There was a break in the thick foliage, and she looked through it to judge the time. The sun was almost directly in front of her, meaning that it was nearly noon. She mentally counted how long she had ran... Twelve and a half hours.

She slowed her pace and began walking. Her muscles ached, and her head spinned. Even Spartans can't go half a day without water. The forest was vast, so sources for water had to be common. She paused for a second to listen to the sounds around her.

The birds sang cheerfully in their nests, the gentle breeze rustled the leaves in its path, and something else... A faint noise. Jocelyn strained to hear exactly what it was. It sounded like someone was blowing bubbles in their drink... But that was impossible. She listened again. A brook! She ran towards it, laughing all the while.

When she had reached the brook, she knelt on the bank and cupped her hands, filling them with the nice, cool water. When she had drank enough, she poured some on her head and washed her face. With new strength, she rose to her feet and kept moving forward.

About half an hour later, she reached a clearing in the woods. The hot, afternoon sun slowly migrated behind the mountains as night drew closer. This would be the perfect place to rest for the night. It was secluded and safe from the Covenant forces nearby.

She moved a little ways from the edge to get a better view of the rather large clearing. She stood over a small hill that overlooked the place. The other side of the forest lay less than a mile ahead, and it surrounding the meadow in a perfect circle.

Jocelyn took in a deep breath of the clean, fresh air. She hadn't been in a place like this since she was a little girl, and even then, she could barely remember it. But this was different... There was another scent in the air. It was thick and overpowering... Smoke.

She scanned the area looking for the fire, but she couldn't find anything. She moved forward ten paces, still nothing. Loud laughter echoed through the forest. For a moment, Jocelyn thought she was going insane. That is, until she saw the dim light of a camp fire.

What were civilians doing out here... Or were they even civilians at all? She had to find out. She began running towards them, but half way to the camp, something hard hit her leg. She bounced backwards and whatever hit her fell and screamed.

"Shh, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." She said quietly, once she realized that she had run into a little girl.

"But... You have guns." The child replied as she pointed to the magnum on Jocelyn's belt.

"Yeah, but I won't hurt you. You have to trust me, I'm here to help you and your parents. How many people are at your camp anyway?"

"Umm... I can't tell you. I don't know who you are."

Jocelyn sighed and sat on the soft grass, "My name is Jocelyn, and I am a commander in the UNSC military. Now, how many people are in this camp?"

"You're a soldier?" She exclaimed with a gasp, "Why didn't you say something? My name is Sally, I'll take you to the camp."

The child grabbed Jocelyn's hand and pulled her in the direction of the campfire. As they got closer, she could see that there were at least fifty people around it. Quiet murmurs went around as they spotted her. One man came up to her and Sally. From the looks of it, he was the leader of these people.

"What have we here?" He said, looking down at Sally with a slight smile.

"She's a UNSC soldier, and-"

"My name is Jocelyn. I'm a commander, but my team was all killed by Covenant soldiers. I found your camp by accident. I don't want to intrude... I can leave if you want me to."

His hard expression softened a little as he turned back to Sally, "Little one, why don't you go back with your parents. It's getting late, and I don't want you to get in trouble. As for you," he said as he looked back at Jocelyn, "It would be my pleasure to have you stay with us... If you can, of course."

"Thank you, I do appreciate your help very much. I'm only asking for one night, and I don't even have to sleep in a tent. I'm quite used to sleeping on the bare ground." She said, smiling.

"Well, I don't have much room in the tents anymore. If you really don't mind sleeping outside, then..."

"Of course! Once again, thanks. I won't stay long."

"Please, you stay as long as you need to. Plus, we could use the help of a trained marine around here. A lot of people have been worried that we are going to get attacked at any given moment. Your presence will bring a lot of peace. So, thank _you_."

She laughed and shook her head, "No, don't thank me, thank the little girl who brought me here!"

"I'll be sure to do that first thing in the morning!" He said, laughing with her. "My name is Alex, and I'm in charge... Sort of."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I'm not the true leader of this camp. The true leader here is Jack." He paused for a moment and looked around to make sure no one was listening. His voice dropped to a whisper as he drew closer to her, "Be careful with him, though. Jack is not the friendliest man on the planet. He hates strangers and therefore treats them like shit... That means you. He drinks to... A lot, and gets angry very easily. Trust me when I say stay away from him. Whatever you do, do not let him see you."

"I won't, don't worry. If they trust me enough, however, I'll see what I can do about your... Problem, okay?" She whispered back with a slight smile.

He nodded stiffly and walked towards the fire. He had only taken five steps when he stopped short in his tracks. He turned around and said, "Aren't you coming?"

Jocelyn joined the other refugees by the campfire. She sat next to a young woman on her left and Alex on her right. She looked around at the people eating quietly with their faces down as if they were embarrassed or scared to be there.

"Here, take this. You must be starving." Said the woman as she handed her a bowl of soup.

"Oh, thank you. I-" Her voice trailed off as she turned to look at her.

"Is something wrong?"

"N... No, Um... What's your name?" She stuttered.

"I'm Emma. Let me guess, you're Jocelyn. Word about your arrival spread around pretty quick." She said, smiling. "Besides, your name is pretty easy to remember."

"Why is that?"

"My sister was named Jocelyn. But she died at age ten from a rare disease."

"Oh, I'm... I'm sorry." _So they did clone me, and now they think I'm dead... Great._

"It's alright. I know she's in a better place now. Well... Better than this hellhole, anyhow."

Jocelyn stifled a sarcastic laugh by taking a sip of her soup.

After a while, people began to retreat to their tents. Others, mostly the ones who knew how to handle weapons, stayed by the dimming fire to watch for enemies. Emma gave her an I'm-sorry-but-I-gotta-go look and left without a word.

"Hey, we're getting ready to turn in for the night." Alex said as he handed Jocelyn a rolled-up mat.

"Alright, thanks. Hey, do you have any type of perimeter set up in case of an attack?"

"No ma'am, Jack says he has it all under control. But between you and me, the guy's nuts. Honestly, I wouldn't trust him with my life if he was the last man on the planet!"

"I'll see what I can do about that."

"What? No, remember what I told you. He'll kill you if you try to play the leader role."

"Who said I would was going to _try_?" She gave him a devilish smile.

Alex simply shook his head and chuckled as he walked away. Soon the fire was put out and all was silent in the colony.


End file.
